this weekend's project --> fixing my dead tach and putting something useful in place of the stock water temp and oil px gauges. I wanted to have my tach, boost gauge, and wideband all close together, so it's easier to see what's going on at the same time without looking all over the place at different gauges. Turned out pretty good IMHO. Defi-link oil px, oil temp, and(soon) fuel px will go into my 3-gauge a-pillar pod.

I purchased a used instrument cluster with a working tach and did a little cutting with a dremel to make the aftermarket 52 mm gauges fit into it. Once you mount the gauge cluster back to the plastic front piece, the 52mm gauges line up with the holes pretty good.

Just thought I'd share since I haven't seen anybody else try this - though I'm sure there's got to be others out there

 

Looks great! How about some pics of them at night with the lights on?

 

looks clean, but how does that steering column guage pod fit? looks a little crooked... but no matter, i like that you did that rather than put them on the a-pillar or mount them in a pod.

 

you're right - it does look a little crooked...just checked it out in the car and I didn't have one of the steering column cover screws tightened all the way...fixed now though, thanks

Not to dissapoint, but I do have an a-pillar pod It's the type that covers the whole A-pillar though, so it's a very clean looking install too. I've actually had people ask me if the car really came with gauges like that. I can post pics of that later, once I finish putting it back together, though it's gonna have one empty gauge hole until I get my fuel px gauge.

 

Looks good I've been thinkin of upgrading those 2 gauges and using the factory locations... Now I know it can work for sure!

 

Just not sure what to think of it. I like it but I dont. I am a huge fan of defi.

 

The boost guage is a great match. Does it light up the same color as the stock Mazda instruments?

 

Wow, that is pretty damn sweet, very nice

You may want to consider running your other 3 gauges in the center speaker location. click the link in my sig for pics.

 

some more pics...

(the wideband reads 10.0 because the signal wire from the box is not connected at the moment)

Defi-link gauges happen to light up green - I belive the the D-gauges and defi-link BF gauges are amber though.

 

What you should do now is make a trip to your local hobby store and pick up a can of Tesla transparent paint. I suggest a can of blue. Remove your instrument cluster, remove the stock faces and paint. The reason why I suggest the blue is 'cause the stock amber plastic mixed with the blue paint will make it light up green. If you use green paint, will probably come out blue. I know about using the blue and getting green light 'cause I had an extra set of white face gauges that I wanted to shine blue, used the blue and it came out green.

 

is that the 52mm or the 60mm?.... was it a perfect fit? if not.. howd u do it?? :]

 

yea i just installed some D-link gauges and they matched the stock Ambers perfectly.

 

White not just a blue LED instead? Or he could sand down the amber and use a green LED.

 

Looks nice!

 

i'd also like to know! and are those the defi d-gauges, or the regular defi links

 

Those are the links. The d-series are orange just like the stock illumination.

I wouldn't use a blue LED if you're looking for green. Passing blue through a orange filter isn't going to get you green. Not the green you're looking for anyway.

If you want green, just do the same thing that hyperite did and use a green LED instead.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/hello-lovers-my-new-gauges-%2Apics-gaaalore-%2A-420936/

 

The defi gauges are all defi-link 52 mm. The plx wideband is whatever the english equivalent to 52mm is - I think 2 1/16" .

Making them fit wasn't that difficult. I bought an extra instrument cluster to get a working tach and so that I wouldn't destroy my original trying to add these gauges. Instrument clusters basically come in three pieces - the clear plastic cover with the gauge silver surround rings, the black top cover that fits over the gauge faces, and the white bottom piece that everything mounts to. The white bottom piece has the flexible circuit board mounted on the back of it.

The original oil px and water temp gauge have mounts molded into the white plastic - I cut these away with a dremel. I also ground some of the other now unnecessary built-in plastic mounts that were in the way, mostly around where the PLX wideband would go because that gauge is a little deeper than the Defi's. Next I enlarged the holes in the black plastic cover so that it fits around the new gauges and when it's snapped into place the Defi & PLX gauge faces stick out very slightly, about level with where the clear plastic would be. Then I cut the clear plastic covers for the oil & water temp gauges out of the clear plastic piece. I used velcro to help hold the gauges in place/keep them from rotating while I put it all back together. When the instrument cluster is screwed back into place on the black plastic inrtument cluster surround, the new gauges line up just right with the stock gauge holes in the instrument cluster surround.

I wish I had taken pics while I did this, I may go back and try making my stock gauges light up green using hyperlite's method from the thread mentioned above. If I do, I'll take pics of the modified gauge cluster.

 

Very nicely done. Can you take some more pics of your A-pillar? I also purchased an A-pillar pod that extends along the entire pillar, but haven't yet received it. I'd like to see what it looks like. Thanks.

 

That looks great!!! I ahve the same gauges, but they are in the 3 pod dash pot. Your look awesome!! great work.